Knowledge Base > Char Nolan & Dan Marek - The Chef Instructor's Playbook
Char Nolan & Dan Marek - The Chef Instructor's Playbook
This event was on
Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Chefs Dan Marek and Char Nolan are set to share their experiences as community and food educators in the culinary arena in this event that is designed to educate aspiring instructors… Read More.
Question:
If alcohol is in the ingredients for a recipe, is it for taste only? Example vanilla. If I prepare without alcohol what differences can I expect?
— ly brod
Answer:
Typically, alcohol is added as a, uh, either a flavor enhancer or preservative for food. So in vanilla in particular, it helps kind of expand the vanilla flavor out a little bit, but more by and large, it's usually used for, um, to preserve the flavor that's in that. And there are a wide variety of, uh, examples of that that are alcohol free, which I will let Char take over on that question. Uh, the brand is Frontier. The flavorings are glycerin based rather than alcohol. They're perfectly delicious. You need to use less of them. And I had a bottle here like a second ago, and a gremlin came and took it away. But Frontier is the brand. Uh, my favorites are lemon, maple and vanilla, but they have peppermint and all kinds of things. I will let you know that it is a three ounce bottle and it generally runs about $8. So, uh, that's just an FYI, um, I don't use alcohol. And one time went to a wedding and there was a raw dessert. So if you're making raw desserts, you definitely want to use alcohol free if, especially if someone might have an alcohol sensitivity.
